False Gods
by Theo the chosen
Summary: 3 heroes, a pyromancer, a knight and a cleric are chosen to make pilgrimage from the asylum, but once they are out, they think about what the end goal really means for them? T because safeguards
1. Awakening

False gods

A dark soul's fan fiction

"Theo! No get away from him you cleric bastard!" Someone shouted "he has tainted the land of all-father Lloyd, resistance will be fought" another said calmly

Theo woke up, "where, where am I?" He said to himself 'what happened to me, who am I, and why am I in this dirty cell' Theo pondered these questions a long while before remembering. "I am Theo a pyromancer of the great swamp" he exclaimed 'yes, the darksign had burned itself into my body, I had been scared, and I knew that the clerics were always searching for the dead. My friends, though I can't remember their names, comforted me and defended me from my own hollowing.' "They were so helpful, but the clerics had to make a surprise search on the swamp." He shouted 'I need to stop talking aloud' he held up his right palm to make sure his flame was still there 'this is what I have left to remember my home'

He heard a loud sound above him as a dead body fell to the ground, which startled him for he was lost in his own thoughts. He looked up and saw an elite knight saluting down at him, seeing a set of keys on the body he snatched them up and saluted the knight back in thanks but he was already gone from view. After trying a few keys Theo got through his door and walked down the hall. "Oi, you mind opening this here door?" Said someone to his right. Startled Theo almost shot a fireball toward the voice, "who are you?" Said Theo "the names uric, uric the tower many called me, till the dam sign burned into me." Uric said "this cleric here caught me and got afflicted by the sign while he was publicly capturing me. Ironic isn't it? But I cannot be angry at him, it was only his job."

Theo opened the door as the knight and cleric scrambled to get out, "yes, fresh air!" Shouted uric, the cleric stared at him a moment and said "you do realize we are still inside right?" "Yes, but that cell was cramped." He said timidly. The cleric spoke up after a long silence "introductions should come later but for now let's get out of this prison." "Is second that." Said Theo.

They headed down the hall ignoring the saddening hollowed madmen. 'This is just wrong; I hope I'm never driven to this awful fate.' Thought Theo as he started to climb the ladder in the circular room, 'unable to think, to remember... No, never will I forget, I am a proud pyromancer of the swamp and I shall never forget.' He peeked out at the clearing, there was a massive door and a strange wooden sword stuck in a pile of ashes and bone. "The, heck is this?" Said uric as he tried to pull the sword from the pile. The sword suddenly burst into flame causing uric jump back "was that you pyromancer?" "No" said Theo "I'm as confused as you to why a sword in the ground would ever spontaneously combust." The cleric who had been watching quietly during the talk said "you don't recognize a bonfire? Really?"

Uric looked to him and said "A bonfire is usually much bigger than this" the cleric responded through a face palm and simply sat down at the fire. The others followed suit and felt a rush of energy as the flames rejuvenates them physically and mentally. 'What a rush' though Theo 'it felt like, burning without the pain' Theo promptly became tired and yawned, "oh sure go to sleep it's not like we have, I Don't know, an asylum to escape?" Said the cleric "sorry, my bad" snapping out of it Theo considered the area around them he saw one large door and a small side door "hey guys, let's get this door open." pointing to the massive iron door, uric took the left side as Theo and the cleric pushed the right one, after a short time the doors were open and they walked in, "looks like a cathedral doesn't it?" said the cleric "yeah, but to what gods." Said Theo, looking around at the disarray that the room was in. "Is there a pot god no one knows of? This place has pots for days!" **(Note: not a drug joke)**

Uric promptly shouted "RUN!" As he dashed for a small side door and rolled in just in time as a massive blue creature plummeted where he had been standing just moments ago. Theo made a run for it with the cleric on his tail and they made it through as the behemoths mace piled rocks over the side. Not expecting a stairway thermo promptly rolled down the length of stairs, "oh, the how nice of you to..." Uric was cut off by Theo punching his chest "uric, just don't even" said Theo "ok sorry" uric muttered dramatically waving his hands in the air. The cleric finally got down the stairs, "smooth, just smooth."

"Oh shut up, I was a bit distracted by the prospect of being smashed to a pulp thank you." Said Theo "I'm just joking, calm down" the cleric said. Meanwhile uric was investigating a hallway, he walked back in with an arrow in his chest plate, "archer" he said simply, "but I found some shields in a side path." The cleric took a shield that had a bird-like emblem on it as uric snatched a iron shield with a symbol of a tower on it, "I'm used to great shields really, but this works I suppose" uric said, "I don't use shields, it's better to have all your strength behind a swing." They proceeded through the hall, with uric blocking the arrows along the way. The archer fled once they reached it, Theo found a hand axe leaning on the wall and hefted it, "it'll do" he said uric found a decent broadsword and the cleric snatched up a mace.

After taking out the archer they trudged onward, "I hope that we find a new bonfire soon or you find a talisman cleric, my wound is bleeding" said uric "if I find some cloth and twine I could make a canvas talisman, but these hollows are too bare." During the conversation they had been climbing a stairway then SMACK a large boulder crashed into them sending Theo plummeting down the side of the stairway and the others knocked down the stairwell, the cleric and knight didn't notice Theo fall and entered the segment of the wall the boulder had smashed. They walked in and saw a man in Astoran armor and he was dying. They ran up to him, he looked up and spoke "where is the pyromancer, I must speak to him." He said at that moment they realized Theo was missing, the cleric ran to the downward stairwell to find Theo nearly dead incapable of moving, the cleric picked him up and dragged him up the stairway to the knight of Astora, "he's here" said the cleric.

The knight seeing that Theo was wounded held up an emerald green flask and gave it to the cleric, "make him drink this." The cleric put it to Theo lips as a bright yellow and red liquid came out Theo shuddered a moment then shook of the clerics grasp and got up and looked at the knight, "that is twice you have saved me, what is your name so I may remember the man who helped me live?" "The names Oscar of Astora, regrettably I have failed my mission but perhaps you three can keep the torch lit, there is a saying in my family, thou who art undead art chosen, in thine exodus from the undead asylum maketh pilgrimage to the land of the ancient lords, when though ringeth the bells of awakening, the fate of the fate of the undead thou shalt know, well now you know, and I can die with hope in my heart... Oh, and take this... An estus flask, an undead favorite, oh and this." He gave Theo a key, and each of them got an emerald flask. "Go now, for I would not want to harm you after death, and, thank you." They all left, knowing he meant he was hollowing.

"Well, I have never heard of any bells of awakening, but now we have a goal when we escape that will stop us from hollowing." Theo said quietly, sad for the death of Oscar

**I am so sorry for how long this chapter rolled on, if you want to review this, I only want helpful criticisms, or suggestions and maybe praise if you thought it was good, please don't post useless hate. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Cliffs

False gods

_A dark souls fanfiction_

**Im going to be transitioning between the point of view of the three main characters, also im sorry for the delayed post, i was occupied.**

"Who goes there?" A feminine voice calls out

"it is Ulric the tower of berenike. I seek to turn myself in as a undead, but in exchange for passage to lordran."

"Fine follow me, I will find a boat headed there."

This memory went through Ulrics mind as he rested at the bonfire, _why did I think i could trust those bastards of the way of white_. They had tricked him into being sent to the asylum anyways. He would get back at them somehow, someday, but for now he was in this asylum. He saw that theo had dazed off, and the cleric was off scavenging for anything to be found in the yard.

"Hey, cleric! What is your name, we are at rest so if any time is the time for introductions, now is the time.",

"Lester, my name is Lester." Lester called back.

Ulric got up and looked down at theo, he tugged on the beads on his necklace

"Wake up Theo, we are heading off."

Theos eyes popped open as he looked around confused, "Aaron?" He said quietly,

"Wake up!" Ulric said loudly. Theo promptly flew backwards accidentally releasing a combustion that burnt the front of Ulrics beard.

"Theo for your sake, a rest at the bonfire should heal this." Ulric sat back down as time warped, and his beard was restored.

"Thank god, you are lucky." Ulric said, "lets go."

Lester started up the stairs that they had descended earlier, the others dashed up with him. Theo burnt up the hollow at the top with a combustion, and they proceeded through the hallway, a body was in the corner of the balcony they came on. Lester dashed up to it and found some torn canvas and twine, he tied the canvas in the center leaving the edges drooping down

"Not too shabby, i wish i had some leather though... Hgh!" Lester said, as a hollow from the left alleyway had slashed out at him, he swung around and broke its skull with his mace

Theo rolled into the alley as an arrow whizzed over him, barely missing his heel. He instinctively snatched a sharp stone from the ground and pelted it dead center into the hollow archers skull.

"Nice shot Theo!" Ulric shouted in mild awe, Ulric stuck the last hollow through his neck. There was another thick fog blocking the entryway, they all pushed through and found themselves on a small balcony overlooking the demon from before. Theo tried to get back through the fog, but it seemed solid now so he recklessly leaped off the edge and dropped his axe upon its forehead. It stumbled backwards, causing the other two to miss. Ulric got up from his fall and rolled away from the mace that smashed down where he had been, with horror he saw that it had smashed Lester instead. Lester dissolved into souls which went into the demon.

"You bastard, thats our friend!" Screamed thero in rage, creating a glob of flame that started releasing sparks everywhere and he released a wave of chaotic fury, incinerating the demon on the spot. Also burning the majority of the area before him, and singing Ulrics beard, again.

Theo collapsed on the spot, "theo!" Shouted ulric, he ran over snatching him up, he was burning up, his body was nearly too hot too touch. Theos body was warping, seeming to try to be something it wasn't, ulric ran out to the doorway to the bonfire. He set down the dying theo close to the bonfire, theo's body stopped warping and the full body fever subsided. Theo looked up at ulric, then got up and hugged him,

"You saved me, i was nearly lost to my own flame, you don't know what you saved me from." Said theo

"Hello, just died but dont mind me." Someone said

They flipped around to see lester, though now he was hollowed.

"Dont just stand there! We need to get out of here."

The cleric trotted ahead, the other two came along but the door to freedom was locked, but ulric found a huge charred key on the ground. Ulric hefted it into the keyhole and the door swung open revealing a path to a sheer cliffside,

"This is a joke right, there has to be a invisible path, something!" Ulric shouted, he ran to the edge and stepped off, and fell. All was silent, then a massive raven swooped up with him in its left claw, it snatched theo with its right claw and it clamped its beak on lesters hood. And they flew off (rather uncomfortably) into a uncertain future.

**Again, i am sorry about the delay, again if you have suggestions for the story feel free to ask, no hate please. Also i can find a way to incorporate some oc's if you want, note that they will play side roles. So yeah another chapter done, be sure to check out my left 4 dead fan fiction "green flu". Also the thing with theo, you won't understand unless you know what happened to izalith and her daughters.**


	3. Lordran

**Sorry that i took two chapters to just leave the asylum, I honestly dont know why i did that. But i swear that progress will be faster this chapter. Also, check out the new dark souls forum that Aquilla tempestas made, **

"What is it lester?" The man spoke.

"Sir, ive been chosen to search for the rite." I responded

"you are undead?" He said, "very well."

"Thank you, my search will begin once i make pilgrimage."

Well, now i've made my pilgrimage, i hope. Who knows, this dam bird could be taking us as dinner for all i know. Lester thought this grimly as he hung gracelessly by his hood in the crows mouth, the only reason that i hadn't escaped earlier was because i had chosen to take these binoculars instead of the key set when he was offered gifts for his journey. He looked down and almost laughed when he saw ulric, he was flailing aimlessly obviously the man was afraid of heights. Theo however had his arms spread, he seemed to be enjoying the flight. As they broke through the clouds a beautiful sight greeted them, they saw the vast span of lordran toward the left seemed to be a endless mass of wilderness, a giant leafless tree was visible protruding from a fissure, and to the right was a massive city. They had made it to lordran.

The raven unceremoniously plopped them all down on the turf of an ancient ruin, which completely ruined the beauty of the moment, theo obviously saw it coming and landed gracefully. Ulric face planted painfully, and i managed to pull off a roll as i hit the ground. We gathered ourselves together and looked around, there was a man sitting upon a rock, his arm resting upon his one raised knee,

"Well, what do we have here? You must be a new arrival. Let me guess. Fate of the Undead, right? Well, you're not the first. But there's no salvation here. You'd have done better to rot in the Undead Asylum… But, too late now." He started chuckling lightly, "Well, since you're here… Let me help you out. There are actually two Bells of Awakening. One's up above, in the Undead Church. The other is far, far below, in the ruins at the base of Blighttown. Ring them both, and something happens… Brilliant, right? Not much to go on, but I have a feeling that won't stop you. So, off you go. It is why you came, isn't it? To this accursed land of the Undead?"

Lester already didn't like this pessimistic ass, but theo was more accepting and thanked the man for his helpful advice, "The church is obvious, but what exactly is blighttown?" Theo asked

"Blighttown is a swamp deep down below, further down than the blasted sewers." He said simply, "it is a vile cesspool of poison and disease i would rather die again then go there."

"Thanks, now we wont go unprepared."

Ulric decided that we should split up to explore the ruins, i decided to explore the right wing, theo took the left and ulric went down the stairwell. The first thing i saw was a fellow cleric standing near the stairwell, "are you a hollow?" I called out.

"Ah hello, who would you be fellow cleric?" He responded

"The names lester, of thoruland." Lester said

"I am pleased to see a countryman, the names petrus of thoruland." Petrus said briefly, "have you happened to see a maiden cleric and two cleric knights?"

"No, i havent seen a group of that description." I said "why do you ask?"

"They are my companions for travel into the catacombs." He said, lester sensed an edge to the mans voice but disregarded it as nerves for a trip into nito's realm. I proceeded up the stairway to the right and came across what seemed to be an elevator shaft, he looked up and saw two platforms on either side far above him. Then lester lost his balance and fell into the pit, he got up from the ground and looked around, he saw a branching path and walked through it. He hopped into a new spot filled with chests, he searched through all of them and found some bones, a morning star and a proper tailsman, in the last chest he found som broken red orbs with a symbol of a pupil in the front.

He went down the last path and found a chest containing some famed lloyd talisman, these could stop an undead from using its estus flask in combat! Lester looked ahead and saw that the only way he could get out of this area was to drop down into the graveyard

"Just great." He muttered, he rolled down and looked about, a pile of bones near him began to knit themselves together. He whipped out his morning star, but was surprised by its immense weight and nearly fell over, as he tried to recover, one skeleton raised it's scimitar for a killing series of blows. But it was thrown back by a fireball which shattered its form, theo trotted down the path and grabbed lesters arm.

"What were you thinking!" Said theo,

"I didnt want to face them, it was required by circumstance ok!" Lester said angrily as they ran off to the bonfire, skeletons following lazily.

When they reached the bonfire they found a shaken ulric,

"Well good news, i know what's down there, bad news its ghosts." Ulric said,

"Ghosts, really ulric?" Lester said in a sarcastic tone.

"Im not joking lester, have you ever heard of the city of new londo?"

"Sure i have."

"Lets just say, it is obvious why no one talks about it anymore."

**Ok, so thats chapter 3 done, i wonder whether you can tell my opinion of the crestfallen warrior, I plan to pick up the pace, the chapters have kind of been stuck in spots. So please leave a review and give whatever criticisms, praise or general opinions you have. As long as it isn't useless hate.**


	4. humane rats

_**Hey, sorry that this took a while to get out, I've been preoccupied. Also, I'm going to be dedicating some more time to this fanfiction as long as people continue to ignore my left 4 dead fan fiction**_

_"Why did you not turn yourself in?" A clear voice said,_

_"Well, for some reason I wasn't very interested in rotting in a cell for eternity, I wonder why?" I said,_

_"If you had gone hollow, you would have been a danger to your countrymen." The voice said, "I have decided he will go to the asylum."_

Theo remembered this as he thrust a humanity into the fires before him, he got annoyed by this memory, they always left people to rot in the assylum, wy do they even bother with those courts? He felt his skin smooth again, and he felt calmer, less likely to crack. Before, he had felt fragile, as if he could have lost it at any moment. He stared into the bonfire, he pictured it now to be an anchor to sanity and life, he reached out and saw the flames part around his hand. He remembered the words of his teacher back in the swamp

_"We are born into Dark, and warmed by Fire, but this Fire we cannot touch."_

"Ok guys, lets head out, we need to get to the church." Theo said

"Ok coming!" Shouted Lester, as he came out of the right wing of the ruins, he had been spending a lot of time talking to that Petrus character. Theo honestly thought something was sketchy about that man, when he spoke of the companions he awaited he spoke with an edge to his voice. But he put his mind to the road ahead, they proceeded up a trail to the bridge they had seen earlier from the raven's flight. As Theo turned the corner a hollow leaped out with its short sword and cut into Lesters clothing and was promptly beheaded by ulric's zweihander.

"I love this thing, who the hell left it out in a freaking graveyard?" uric said merrily. They kept on through and a hollow above started hurling firebombs at them as another poorly armored hollow rushed them. Theo just held the barbed spear he had found steady as the hollow rushed into it, they saw a properly armed hollow ahead, but they needed to take out the bombarding hollow first. Lester released a ball of force that impacted with the bombing hollow, the hollow proceeded to fall off the cliff,

"Nice shot!" Theo said

"thanks." Lester said, and uric ended the brawl by smashing the armored hollow into the ground with an overhead swing from his sword,

"Love it, so much!" uric said loudly.

they climbed the steps taking down two more hollows as they reached the bridge which turned out to be more of an aqueduct, Theo looked around and found himself facing a mutated rat rearing up to claw at him. He impaled it with his spear and kicked it,

"What the hell was that?" Theo said in disgust,

"I had no idea that animals were hollowing too." Lester said, "It is supposed to affect people only." Theo found a sprite of humanity among the corpse and put it in his pack,

"Why would a rat have humanity? That's my question." Theo said, "let's keep moving, those bells won't ring themselves!", they made it out of the aqueduct and immediately a battle axe wielding hollow leapt at them, Theo rolled out of the way and fell down a pit breaking his right arm. He got up and saw someone running down the corridor,

"hello, wait up, who are you!" Theo said, he started jogging after the person until it stopped running in a courtyard, then it turned and he saw that it had been a hollow. He turned and saw three hollows behind him and four had climbed over the rails to the yard. Panicking Theo shoved the one close to him off the railing and shot a burst of fire into another's face, he stabbed another in the neck with the spear. One swung its broken sword at him, but through instinct he grabbed the hilt and redirected the blow to kill another hollow as he kicked it over the rails too.

He rolled to the last three and made a long swing with the spear and cut through all of their necks.

"Ok, I have no idea how I did that, but I don't think I can do that again if I tried." Theo said to himself in shock.

**don't worry I'm going to put up another chapter today, I have a lot of free time today, also, I can incorporate one more character, I would love to hear whatever suggestions you have for a character. Ill incorporate the character before or after the belfry gargoyles, feel free to leave any helpful criticisms or suggestions.**


	5. Demon riding

**Alright lets put these guys against the taurus demon! hopefully lester doesn't get smashed again, or maybe you do, who knows, WARNING: content may include the incredible sunbro, do not imitate and gaze directly at the sun, no matter how grossly incandescent it may be, would likely cause damage to eyes.**

**also, i hate word, i used it for the last chapter and it changed ulric into uric, i realized it did it for chapter 1 also.**

"_So, your Ulric the tower, i've heard tales." a weak voice said, "Is it true that you once slew a drake alone?"_

"_ha ha, not alone, it took three men by my side, the way people change tales." I chuckled,_

"_I thought you would have evaded capture or turned yourself in?" the weak voice said,_

"_I did turn myself in, I did consider the adventure of evading capture though." I said jokingly,_

"_but, if you did… why are you on a ship to the asylum?" the voice said._

Ulric pondered this flash of memory as he and Lester wandered, searching for Theo. this was when he had realized his real destination. the man's name had been Jhon, an Astoran knight, he had gone hollow two days into the journey, the poor man felt he had no purpose. he heard something behind him and flipped around, it was theo dropping down from the top of the bridge/aqueduct,

"hey guys, missed me?" he called,

"Oh shut up, lets go." Lester said, not even pondering where theo had been, they traversed a thick fog shrouding the door and proceeded through the building and came up a staircase, then suddenly from behind, a humongous hellkite drake came and landed before them, ulric stood stock still as it glanced back, then it flew off,

"what the hell was that! I thought the dragons were supposed to be dead!" Theo said fearfully,

"thats not a dragon, its a subspecies born from the first flame, it can breath fire, the ancient dragons could not. they are called drakes." Ulric said calmly, "that was a hellkite drake, they only attack when they feel like you're invading their territory, thankfully it doesn't think this spot is its."

the conversation was interrupted by a crossbow bolt cutting into Theo's cheek,

"Ow, cover me guys." theo said as he rushed by two hollows stabbed the one on the stairs and kicked the crossbowman down into the lower burgh.

"we're covering you." lester said as they took out the two remaining hollows. they proceeded into the tower and found a bonfire, the way up was blocked with rubble, and the ladder was pulled up, they took a rest and headed onward, killing the freshly reincarnated crossbowman and stair guard. ulric walked down the next bridge and was hit instantly in the face by a firebomb,

"goddammit, why does this land hate my beard?!" ulric shouted as lester released a ball of force that collapsed the platform of the bombers, they went safely to the next building and were confronted by two axemen who were cut down swiftly, suddenly the door that they were about to open got kicked open and a hollow soldier burst through swinging wildly with its longsword. theo burnt its face off with a fireball, they headed on, ulric and lester entered a building as theo went up the stairs. they slew the hollow that was in there, then proceeded to find a chest of black firebombs, they heard from above them theo shouting in pain.

they rushed up and saw theo had a battle axe stuck in his shoulder, there were three dead hollow around him, lester yanked the axe from his shoulder and healed it with a spell.

"thanks, but you didnt have to pull it so hard!" theo said angrily, there was a locked wooden door, theo shot a combustion that burnt down the door to where ulric could kick it down in one shot. They walked in and found another gathering of tables and cabinets, but no signs of humans they proceeded out the backdoor. They found a chest with a sack full of golden powder,

"What is this?" Lester asked,

"I don't know, theo?" Ulric said,

"This is pine resin, it applies random effects to weaponry, depending on its color. This one likely electrifys a weapon." Theo said, they hopped down and were swiftly confronted by a spearman and two swordsman, lester blasted aside the spearman's shield as theo pierced the neck. Ulric rushed up the stairwell and was promptly smashed by a flaming barrel Lester bashed the soldier that had rolled the barrel down with his morning star.

They came upon a tower, there was another door ahead, it couldn't be burnt down for some reason, so they proceeded up the stairwell,

"Does anyone else think there is going to be another fog up here?" Theo said.

"Be quiet." Lester said,

"How could i possibly have annoyed you this time?" Theo said accusingly,

"No, i think i hear something, so be quiet." Lester snapped. He paused a moment, then smashed the barrel next to him, a large lizard covered in crystals shuffled from the wreckage.

"Ooh, crystal lizard, mine!" Shouted ulric, but was beaten to the kill by theo who jabbed it with the spear. It disintegrated into two crystals and a big chunk of some black iron, theo let ulric keep the chunk in exchange for keeping the crystals.

"This might be worth something in trade, im keeping these." Theo said, They headed through the fog and found themselves on a long bridge, Ulric climbed up the nearby ladder as Lester and theo walked down the bridge. They heard some fighting from above and saw that lester was beating the shit out of two crossbowmen.

Suddenly, they were knocked over by a heavy shockwave behind them. Theo turned around and saw a huge taurus demon rising from it's fall (he knew what it was for he had studied demons out of interest once.)

"Lester, get up and run, run!" Theo said, he picked up lester before he could respond and ran to the tower,

"ULRIC, BASH IT'S BRAINS OUT!" Theo screamed, ulric leaped a surprising distance and brought his sword halfway to hilt deep in the things back, he held on,

"Best ride EVER!" Ulric shouted, he tugged and got the beast off balance, and fell with it off the edge of the bridge.

Theo and lester ran to the edge,

"Crap, ulric! That was awsome, but i don't think he survived that fall though." Theo said in awe

"Yeah that was freaking glorious, but we need to keep moving though." Said Lester. They headed along and exited onto the edge of a bridge, they looked around and saw that the bridge seemed burnt at places. They went the other way and found a platform overlooking a beautiful jungle, they stood in awe of the view for a minute before noticing the knight before them. He had an old fashioned set of knight armor, identified with that strange cylinder helm,

"Hail, are you hollow good knight?"

"Ah, hello! I am not hollow, far from it!  
I am Solaire of Astora, an adherent of the Lord of Sunlight.  
when I was branded I came to Lordran to find a sun. … Do you find that strange? Well, you should! Hah hah hah!" Solaire said,

"Not really, I have had much stranger goals." Theo said calmly,

"Ahh, so i didn't run you off, say i have an idea, do you want to hear it?" Solaire said,

"Sure, what is it." Lester said,

"The way I see it, our fates appear to be intertwined.  
In a land brimming with Hollows, could that really be mere chance?  
So, what do you say? Why not help one another on this lonely journey?" Solaire asked,

"What's your idea?" Theo said

"Answer "Yes"  
This pleases me greatly! Well then, take this.  
We are amidst strange beings, in a strange land.  
The flow of time itself is convoluted, with heroes centuries old phasing in and out.  
The very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure. There's no telling how much longer your world and mine will remain in contact. But, use this to summon one another as spirits, cross the gaps between the worlds and engage in jolly co-operation! Of course, we are not the only one engaged in this. But I am a warrior of the sun! Spot my summon signature easily by its brilliant aura. If you miss it, you must be blind! Hah hah hah!" Solaire said as he handed both of them a white stone,

"Hey solaire, why do you wear such an antiquated set?" Theo said,

"I believe its important to know and connect with the past, now excuse me, i shall stay here to gaze at the sun, it is a wondrous body, if only i could be so grossly incandescent!" Solaire said jubilantly as he raised his head to gaze into the sun.

**Wow, this one was pretty long, tell me if you want them to be as long as this one or shorter than this one, also i think that you should be able to burn down certain doors if you have pyromancy. And again, if you want, feel free to suggest your own character, just give me the name a bit of background and a personality! Bye.** .


	6. Time

**Ok time for the next chapter, it took a while because ive had alot of work on my plate, ive had some big tests and long homework packets, but enough about me, onto the story!**

_"Why will they not shut up, ive had it up to here with the screams." I said,_

_"Oh don't act like your above us all you dam cleric, we are all set to rot in the assylum!" An angry voice, "We are all undead here."_

_"Oh shove off, im going to my calling!" I said proudly, "don't forget thief, you are here because you came back from an execution. I won't rot, I will leave promptly!"_

Oh, how wrong had i been, i had sat in that cell five years, that thief had broken out the same night we arrived. He had taunted me with his victory, those five years the key to my cell had sat just out of reach thanks to him. Theo felt a sharp pain on his side, his eyes flit open, he saw a tall knight wearing the silver armor of anor londo knights.

"Lester, what are you doing here? Why are you wearing your old robes?" The Knight said,

"Who the hell are you!" Lester said in surprise,

"Where's theo, how did you guys get here so soon? Why don't you recognize me?" The knight said, "Crap, ignore it, ignore everything, thank god i didn't say my name, I could have messed something up."

"Explain to me what is going on, I don't want to use this!" Lester said as he waved his talisman threateningly,

"Sorry, can't don't want to mess time up!" The silver-clad knight said, the knight got up onto the railing overlooking the vast jungle, "wait, one thing before I go, kill the four kings once the bell's are down ok?" The knight rolled off the edge and plummeted to a certain demise,

"Who was that?" Theo said as he woke up, "Why did he leap off?",

"Some mad knight I suppose, some people go crazy before hollowing. He said something about 'not messing up time' whatever that means." Lester said calmly,

"So, you aren't the least bit surprised that he just leaped off the edge?" Theo said, his voice starting to rise a bit.

"I am surprised but not concerned, we are undead after all." Lester said,

"Whatever, let's just go before any more mad men come over here who are more aggressive than that guy." Theo said, they woke Solaire up so he wouldn't be caught off guard by anyone and headed off, in case of dangers on the bridge, theo went first.

Theo walked down the long bridge, some hollows started to move towards him, but all of thing were stop in their tracks as they turned to the sound of lester screaming,

"DRAKE, THEO RUN!" He saw Theo turn, just as the drake released an overhead sweep of fire that spread across the entire bridge, Lester managed to roll out of the way as some fire spread into the balcony. He ran back to his vantage once the fires died down, he didn't see Theo and determined that he had died. Lester glared at the large drake, now perched on the other side of the bridge, staring at him, waiting for him to do something. Lester proceeded carefully down the bridge, keeping an eye on the drake, he neared a sideline with a staircase. He ran towards the stairs as the drake reared it's head, guzzling flames in its mouth, he rolled down the stairway as fire rushed behind him.

He looked around, there were two doors, one led to the underside of the bridge and one led to more stairs. He went down the stairs and found himself overlooking the bonfire in the burgh, there was a pulled up ladder there. He kicked the ladder and the length of it descended to the floor, it was there he saw Ulric and someone in lengthy red robes and some kind of metal or bark growth covering the face.

"Who the hell are you, how do you know my name!" Ulric was saying,

"That's what i'm trying to tell you, the time flow is distorted, i need to go before i mess up something!" The the person replied, the mask made it hard to determine gender,

"You aren't going anywhere until I get an explanation other than 'time travel', how do you know me!" Ulric shouted,

"Sorry, but I can't hurt anything, i'm not changing any events." They said, the person then touched something on their neck, then as the person started to burn by red fire, Theo started to reform at the bonfire.

"Hey guys, Ulric, nice to see you, that was a cool stunt, riding the demon like that!" Theo said calmly,

"Thanks, you know, I've been thinking that we never really introduced, the most personal thing I know about you guy's is your names." Ulric said,

"Do we really have the time for this?" Lester said,

"What? It's not like other people are rushing to ring the bells." Theo said reasonably,

"Fine, I lived in Thoruland, I was a high ranking cleric there, it was good until the curse branded me." Lester said quickly, wanting this to be over with, "I turned myself in for the quest and was taken to the asylum, end of story"

"Oh, someones not being social, I myself lived in the great swamps, I had a few friends, wonder where they are right now,,, but anyways, i studyed under one of the greater teachers of pyromancy." Theo said nostalgically, happy that he could recall this much, "I would know alot more pyromancy than I did now if it weren't for the curse."

"I never really settled in one spot after I became 17, I travelled far and wide from Berenike, always learning new things, I was renowned for my strength in Berenike, but out there, even more." Ulric said happily, "I had lots of adventures, dabbled in pyromancy, sorcery and miracles too. But when all of Berenike fell to the curse, so did I."

"Ok, great, we know eachother, lets go now!" Lester said forcefully, "that drake from before is sitting up on our progression!",

"Actually there is probably a way to get around under the bridge." Theo said,

"Yeah but there is a bonfire under the drake!" Lester said.

**So, another chapter down, I think this one was pretty good, the new charachter will show up chapter after next, I haven't recieved any suggestions for a charachter, but I would love to hear an idea!**


	7. My, what a large tooth you have

**Ok, one more chapter till the belfry gargoyles! So you have this chapter and the next chapter to suggest your oc's to be added in. I'm really happy to see that a lot of people are viewing this, I really hope you are enjoying these ridiculous rambling, onto the tale!**

_'I could light a board, or just the wall, for a ship this is rather dry.' Theo thought, 'well, even if I survive the fires, I'll be stranded in the ocean with no food or drinkable water' Theo sighed, the last thing he wanted to do was to accept his fate, suddenly something in his mind seemed to click, he felt the atmosphere change. He noticed that twenty men had vanished from this level of the boat, three new ones were sitting there, confused theo got up and went outside. The guards were there still, it seemed the undead prisoners were the only vanishing ones, an idea popped into Theo's head and he headed down grinning._

This memory came back to him as he restored his humanity once more, "I'm assuming you mean the hellkite drake from earlier?" Ulric said worriedly.

"Yeah, we found its territory, Theo got burnt to a crisp up there." Lester said, "I think that we may be able to run past it, but there may be some great reward for taking down such a beast?".

"Trust me, there is no chance we could possibly take that thing out in this state of equipment!" Ulric said, quite annoyed by this drawback, "The best chance we have to get by it is to run, follow me." Ulric said,

He climbed up the ladder and theo climbed up after him followed by lester, when they got up the ladder they found Ulric wearing the armor of the hollow soldiers they had been seeing this whole time, "I need to run light." He said in explanation, 'anything is better than what you have been wearing, Ulric had been wearing that heavy stee Nl armor favored by Berenike. They headed up the stairway, Ulric looked around the area and decided that they would run for the gap in front of the stairway. They successfully made it there just in time to avoid the fire of the dragon, as they stood in the gap Theo noticed something.

It was a name carved into the stone, he wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't glowing bright white. Theo read it as Corunus, he touched the sign and it began to glow more intensely, then faded. Ulric noticed the flash and turned to theo, "What was that?" He said,

"I don't know, there was a name carved into the floor and i touched it, thats all." Theo said defensively. They were interrupted by another bright light on the ground, it was a runic circle and a figure began to rise from it, it wore a charred black armor and held a club that looked like,,, a tooth? Despite it's dark armor, it had a outline of white all around it, the thing gave a clumsy bow and turned to the drake. The drake the lept from it's perch and landed on the bridge, the armored phantom ran out to greet it, his club smashed into the neck, which seemed to stun the creature. He rolled under the drake and smashed it's tail three times until it came off, he then whipped out a catalyst and blasted it with a great soul arrow causing it to dissolve into energy.

It walked back to the group and did a small jump, pumping it's fist in the air.

"That should fix your drake problem, bonfires down that way, oh and to whoever wants it." He tossed the drakes sword like tail down before them, "bye!"

It grasped a small black crystal and vanished.

"Can someone run that by me again?" Ulric said, "What the hell just happened?",

"I have no idea, but it was awesome!" Theo said happily, he picked up the sword and gave it a swing, "and so is this sword" laughing giddily he headed down the bridge, the other two followed him slower to dismiss what just happened. They found a bonfire, as promised, the room was strange, it had a fountain with an unusual statue in it. It was a woman with flowing robes carrying her child, the child held in his hand a beautifully carved sword, they thought they had seen the sword before but couldn't think where. Theo wandered out onto a overview of another part of the jungle, he thought he could see some crumbling structures beneath the limbs. Lester walked up beside him, "What is this?" Lester asked, pointing to the rubble of a structure, Theo noticed this earlier, but hadn't thought much of it, he noticed that one of the pieces of it was that same sword.

"I don't know, looks like a broken statue." Theo said dismissively, lester started picking up some of the statue chucks and placing them together until he made it clear that the statue used to depict a humanoid.

"I feel some kind of energy emanating from this statue, holy energy." Lester said, he kneeled at it and said a quick prayer, when he he finished his prayer the altar shined, the sunlight around them seeming to bend to focus upon the altar. The light became blinding and then stopped, a small scroll lay at it's base.

"What was that, another phantom?" Ulric said as he rushed in,

"No, some forgotten god, I've never heard of such a miracle before" Lester said as he read the scroll.

Lester rested at the bonfire as he considered the scroll he held, Ulric found a lever that lifted the gate in front of them. Theo proceeded up the stairway to scout ahead, he burnt a hollow soldier and proceeded onto a burning street. A massive boar stood guard at the end of the street, it saw Theo and began to charge at him, but it had no chance. A bolt of thunder flew over Theo's head and struck the Boar square in the face, the boar fell to the ground dead.

"Need help?" Lester called out from behind

**That moment when you summon someone to help with something you think is really difficult and then he/she clears house with it in seconds, another good chapter if I do say so myself, as always feel free to leave helpful criticisms.**


	8. Drink to immortality

**Ok next chapter, last chance to suggest an oc to become a character. I'm happy with how the story is progressing so far, I hope you are enjoying the characters as much as I am, onto the tale!**

_Who were these people, no one here was here earlier. It was as if he had completely changed ships. Ulric looked around, a man in elite armor stood across from him, he had an intricate rapier at his side. Ulric wondered why this man had been allowed to keep his blade. Ulric approached the man, now noticing he had a few knights of Astora sitting with him,_

_"Who might you be, to have you and your men keep their blades?" Ulric called._

_"I payed this boat to head to lordran for me and my companions once it drops you commoners off at the asylum. And the names Ricard, prince Ricard. What's yours?" He said._

_"Ulric the tower, knight of berenike." Ulric said, annoyed by the man's attitude already, he thought he had heard that name before, he couldn't recall where though._

Ulric recalled where he had heard the name before, Ricard was an Astorian prince who had exiled to lordran after turning undead. How had he seen him then? He decided that it didn't matter right now, as he squared off with a spearman finally the spearman moved his shield so he could put force behind his thrust. He swiftly bashed it's face in with his greatshield, Theo rushed by as the spearman staggered and made quick work of the first crossbowmen with his sword, the second one prepared to shoot. Theo gripped the tail in two hands and lashed out and missed, then a wave of energy came out of the tip and tore through the crossbowman.

"I keep loving this sword more and more!" Theo shouted,

"What was that!" Lester called back,

"I have no idea, but it was cool!" Theo said as he rolled down from the oversight. They went down the only other place they could go, down the stairway. They saw a unarmoured hollow run away down the hall Theo started after it and stabbed it in the back.

They walked into a room which seemed like it may have been a bar before the burgh went mad. Suddenly three hollows set upon them as an ambush Lester got a few cuts and so did Theo, Ulric told them to roll to the ground and he did a sweeping stroke with his sword, taking out the attackers. Theo got up and took out one of the hollows up above, he found a corpse of a hollow. He took a key that looked like a cell key from it.

"Hey Lester, if we are undead, aren't we immortal?" Theo said,

"Yeah, theoretically we will live forever. Why do you ask?" Lester said,

"How come we keep finding corpses They should just resurrect right?" Theo said,

"Yeah, thats a very good question, I don't have an answer to that." Lester said thoughtfully.

They climbed up a ladder, they were promptly attacked by two hollows. Theo was prepared for that and simply parried him and cut one down, another bolt of thunder flew by him and struck the hollow square in the chest.

"I still wish I was faithful enough to cast that spell." Ulric said jealously.

"Don't complain, you have the strength of 4 men!" Lester said, they headed further up and found a doorway, before they went through the doorway Theo walked up to a barrel and opened it.

"Jackpot!" Theo shouted, he pulled two bottles of ale from the barrel, he tossed one to Ulric,

"There is another if you want Lester, that is unless you are too 'pure' for alcohol?" Theo said,

"Sure, toss me it." Lester said, "it's not like my high priest will know."

Ulric heartily drank half the bottle, Theo savored a gulp and put the rest of the bottle in his bag. Lester took a small sip and packed up his bottle, they headed out to the battlements and took a right. They saw a Baldor knight standing at the end of the hall, experimentally Theo threw one of the blue skulls he had found on the oversight by the crossbowman. The skull exploded into a mass of souls that faded, the baldor knight started flailing it's sword at the cloud as if there was someone there. Lester rushed it while it was confused and smashed it's face solidly with his morning star.

Theo searched the corpse behind the baldor knight, he found a knights shield and nothing else,

"You want this shield Lester?" Said Theo,

"No, keep it." He responded, Theo cast aside his broken wood shield for the metal knights shield. They proceeded onward, taking care of a stray spearmen they made it to a stairway, Lester went first into the hall and almost immediately got stabbed by a baldor knight, the knight kicked him off his blade. Lester fell out the window from the kick and plummeted down into the jungle below.

**So that's another chapter down, the story hit 300 views a little while ago, thanks everyone who has been reading my incoherent ramblings, New character in the next chapter! This is your last chance to leave a suggestion for your own character to incorporate.**


	9. Divinity of a forest

**Ok, the new character is coming in this chapter, thank you AquilaTempestas for suggesting the character and following the story so far, and thanks in general to anyone following along with this, Onto the tale.**

_I'm a high ranking official of the church, why will they not grant me my hammer? Lester thought to himself, he had been talking to the ships guards earlier and they had been happy to chat with him. But no matter how much he demanded or bribed they would not even give him a talisman. Lester wandered the length of the ship, suddenly he felt as if he had been dumped into cold water. when the sensation faded he found himself on a different ship, this one was a smaller ship than what he was on before. But it still flew under the way of the white's flag , confused, Lester approached the changed guards to figure out what was happening._

This was one of the many memories flashing through Lesters head as he plummeted down into a grove far, far below. He hoped to Nito that he would not hollow when he died, he had no investment in the quest of the bells. The only reason he had to travel with the group was to find equipment to traverse the catacombs, then perhaps he could traverse it with Petrus and his companions. He felt very cold, then blacked out. **The undead do not dream**, this Lester had known since the first time he slept on the boat, but what explained this? Lester stood on the outer edge of a bowl valley, huge spires extended from the ground and the ground around him blanket the ground all around him. The spires had spikes of hardened ash jutting out towards the middle of the valley, he was considering these as he heard commotion behind him. He turned and saw 11 knights in shining silver armor making a line holding back a group of creatures in a strange black garb that concealed their faces. The knights seemed to be guarding an elderly man making his way down to the bottom of the valley, Lester was receiving feelings from it all. When he beheld the darkened warriors he got a sense of mindlessness, a voice insisting that he kill the man at all costs, the silver knights gave him a sense of grim resolve and a final stand. Some instinct said to follow the man, Lester followed the man until they made it to a archway that led to another charred room with a single bonfire at it's center.

Lester could feel an intense heat emanating from the burnt coal that was this room, the elder ran toward the bonfire and grabbed it's handle. The man started to catch fire, and almost instantly broken humanity started rushing into him ceaselessly. The man screamed in agony, not from the fire but the humanity, the room began burning too so Lester ran back up the valley back to where the dark warriors and the silver knights fought. Then a sudden explosion of fire burst from the structure the elder was in, the rest of the area began to catch fire, the warriors fled as the silver knights fell to the ground. The knights burnt, the armor they wore became not rusted but charred somehow as did the weapons they wielded, Then Lester awoke.

Lester found himself on a patch of grass, he looked around himself and saw a massive variety of overgrowth. Then he came to notice the person sitting against one of the trees wearing some moss covered armor which seemed to have been cut of stone.

"Who are you?" Lester called reaching for his Morning star,

"I'll answer that later, after you." A female voice sounded from the armor, "Don't bother, I have your weaponry." She said.

"I'm Lester, high priest of the way of the white, Now you." Lester said simply

"Mariam, also your savior." She said shortly, Lester noticed that she wasn't fond of talking, "What brings you to plummet from the sky into the one deep pond in darkroot basin?"

"I was on a quest with some odd undead, I was kicked off of a knight's sword and fell, presumably to the pond you speak off." Lester said, "do you know where I could find a divine weapon, or a blacksmith that could make me one?",

"Well, Andre could handle a divine ember, but he doesn't have one. I know where to find a blacksmith that does though, follow me." Mariam walked off through the trees and Lester followed, unsure about this woman and her intentions.

Ulric smashed his greatsword into the crossbowman on the other side of the entrance of the church. They had decided that Lester would catch up later from the bonfire, they faced a choice, go into the church or see what lay down the shrouded path to the right. They decided to see what the path held, after walking for a while they found themselves in what looked to be a small broken church.

"Odd, what do you reckon this place is?" Theo said thoughtfully, they were broken from the curiosity by a loud banging sound below them. They headed down and found a bonfire, they rested briefly and continued down, they saw a large muscular man reinforcing a small sword on an anvil.

"hello, you must be new arrivals, I'm andre of astora if you need smithing come to me." Andre said, "Would you happen to have any embers?"

"No, we do not have any smithing embers, sorry." Ulric said,

"Could you reinforce my sword?" Theo said, setting down his drake tail before andre,

"My that's a fine sword you have, I'm afraid a sword made of dragons bones need an equally rare material. Perhaps the scale of a dragon could be employed." Andre said thoughtfully,

"I'm afraid I don't have any, thanks anyways." Theo said, disappointed, ulric had his greatsword reinforced twice before they went back to the bonfire.

"Onto the church then." Ulric said simply.

Lester and Mariam were progressing through a swamp-like area of darkroot garden, there were a few stone automatons animated by magic. This intrested Lester, for the power to animate statues is completely unheard of, he smashed his morning star into another golem. The golem raised it's greatsword to swipe at him, then Mariam knocked it's helm clear off with her burnt greatsword.

"What manner of magic animates these creatures?" Lester said swiftly as he blasted aside one of the golems shields with force,

"These are the remnants of the guardians Oolacile made before it was lost." She said, decapitated it in it's stall. They found a large tower toward the edge of the wetland, they killed the golem defending it and went inside. Lester noticed a small glow from within the bush under the stairway, he parted the bush and found a name carved into the ground, 'Beatrice'. He touched it and it glowed fiercely and then faded, after a little while a tall woman wearing unusual witches robes and holding an equally unusual staff. Lester recognized it as a phantom thanks to the drake incident.

"Why are we at this tower Mariam?" Lester asked as the witch finished forming.

"The blacksmiths up here, he lives in a ruined tower across the bridge." Mariam said,

"Hold on,,," the phantom said,

"Shh, is it safe Mariam, I have had a lot of bad experiences with bridges recently." Lester said half-jokingly,

"Your streaks going to continue." The phantom grumbled, but they were already going up the stairs. They walked out onto the bridge and looked around themselves, there was a lot of overgrowth shrouding the bridge. Lester heard a sound, it was a very faint gust of air, he looked around but saw no possible source for it. They walked toward the end of the bridge as the phantom came up,

"Hey, look left!" It shouted, they looked and noticed the giant butterfly leveling with them, Lester instinctively lifted his talisman and produced a bolt of thunder.

"You're a warrior of sunlight?" Mariam said in confusion, "you said you were way of the white!" Lester had no idea what she meant by this but hurled his bolt as the witch started to weave some sorcery to blast at it. Mariam whipped out a longbow and started firing a few shots out at it, the butterfly's horn began to glow and it released three balls of inconsistent blue light. They went for marion who simply rolled under them last second, the witch released a large spiral of magic straight at it just as it prepared another spell.

Before it could cast Lester struck it down with another lightning strike, the butterfly dissolved as it fell gently down from the height. The phantom dissolved as a small pillar of yellow light jetted into Lester's hands,

"What is this?" Lester said, staring into the pinnacle of light.

"It's a soul, not just the generic souls you get usually. These are capable of changing a weapon entirely." Mariam said,

"What was that thing anyways, it used moonlight magic, that's a rare form of magic." Lester said,

"Moonlight butterfly, one of Seath's projects." Mariam said, she ran towards the crumbling tower across the bridge.

"So, what is this place anyways?" Theo asked,

"This is the old church. It was abandoned in favour of the church that you passed through. There are paths leading from here to two forbidden planes: Sen's Fortress, and the Darkroot Garden. They attract all sorts of lunatics, no-one as cultured as yourself. It's fine to be Undead, but keep a level head, eh?" Andre said, he laughed a bit before going back to forging,

"Come on, let's wait at the bonfire for Lester." Theo said, and they headed up the stairway.

**Another chapter done, I completely forgot to post this when it was done. Thanks again to everyone following along with this, I am so happy that people are enjoying this. On another subject, the entire game Andre is reinforcing the same sword, you have to wonder how sharp it's going to be when he finishes!**

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	10. Servants path

**Ok, i've found a temporary solution to the problem, it's time for the next chapter. I'm finally going to pit them against the belfry gargoyles. Onto the story!**

_I looked around at this golden city of the gods, already pondering what treasures she and her sister could find. _

"_Mariam, I found something!" her sister called from one of the chambers. I walked into the room, I noticed the iron statue of some deity presumably, _

"_what is it?" I asked,_

"_Treasure chests." she said simply, she popped open the chest to the right. she screamed as arms protruded from the chest and grabbed her I rushed to help her, I couldn't let her die, she's all I have._

Mariam rushed across the bridge, she hoped that this smith had not died, he had always been nice. She ran up the stairs of the block tower until she finally reached the top, here she saw that the smith and all of his tools and creations were now stone.

"Dammit Seath." She muttered. Then she noticed a pale white light shining from his shielding hands, she pulled out the small stone box that held the small white flame, she also retrieved a small key.

"Don't just run off like that." Lester said as he finally made it up the stairway, "Crap, what happened to him." Gesturing at the stone carcass.

Mariam tossed the ember to him,

"One of Seath's 'experiments'" She said in a controlled tone. Lester caught the ember and stashed it in his satchel,

"Was he a friend?" Lester asked,

"yes." She said quickly, they went down the stairway and across the bridge in silence.

"Too bad Lester isn't here, he'd know the layout of this place perfectly." Theo said as they walked into the church, "bet, he'd know a secret pass t,,," he was cut off by a towering mace slamming into his side, Ulric recognized it as a hollowed knight of Berenike,

"Dam, Theo!" Ulric took an overhead swing at the knight, the freshly sharpened steel bit into the monster but barely did anything. It raised it's mace but failed to swing as he was interrupted by a orb of flame to his helm,

"What the hell is this thing!?" Theo shouted to Ulric,

"It's a Berenike knight, get behind it." Ulric shouted, he smashed his greatshield into the hollows side, knocking the terror to the ground. Theo, already behind the beast, held up his sword and hoped to Lloyd that he wouldn't be crushed. His wish was denied as the massive knight fell upon the drake's tail, and him in the process.

"oh…" Theo managed to say before the giant fell on him, it suddenly began dissolving in the same way the boar had.

"********** **** ****** ***" Theo was shouting as his mouth was uncovered,

"Oh calm down, I don't think he'll resurrect, let's rest at the bonfire, you look like some albino hollow right now." Ulric said, only half jokingly.

"So, what can you tell me about yourself?" Lester said,

"I'm Mariam." she said,

"I know that, I'm asking because I want to know a bit more about the person travelling with me." Lester said diplomatically, she gave an exasperated sigh and started walking a bit faster. They came to an entrance to a large ruin,

"This leads to the old church, Andre will be there." She handed him five green finger-like pieces of stone, "Give these to him, along with the ember, he'll use them to enchant your equipment.",

"Hold on, why don't you come with me?" Lester said "It wouldn't hurt to have skilled people on the trip.",

"The last group I traveled with, it didn't end very well." Mariam said quietly,

"Don't worry, you definitely won't mess anything up." Lester said.

They walked into the ruin,

"Run to the other side, i'll distract the prowler ok?" Mariam said quietly,

"what, oh.." Lester said, just now noticing the huge beast with a staff as long as it's body, "how did I miss that?", Lester made a dash for the archway as Mariam took an overhead swing with her charred sword. After Lester made it to the door she made a run after him, rolling to avoid the bolt of thunder shot from the prowlers rod.

"Hello Mariam, is this a friend of yours?" Andre said absently as he continued to forge away at the longsword,

"Yes." She said shortly, she handed him a mass of souls, "that should cover the forging of his weapon right?",

"yes, it should." He said, Lester handed him his 'Partizan' as Mariam had called it, he heated the spear over a small orange ember, the rubbed small black shards into the blade.

"If I may have that ember now?" Andre asked Lester, who handed the divine flame to him, he repeated the process and rubbed the green shards into the spear.

"All right, all done." Andre said, returning to the longsword, "Be careful out there, neither of us want to see you go hollow." Lester took the softly glowing spear, it began to glow a bit brighter in his hand,

"I like it, exemplary work Andre." Lester said, he was suddenly cut off by a guttural roar from above, "Mariam, let's go!" They ran up the stairs and reached the side entrance to the church, they looked up and saw a living gargoyle wielding a halberd approaching two men and one golden figure.

"I HATE SORCERY!" Theo screamed as he cut into the horde of magically enhanced hollows,

"HOW MANY ARE THERE?" Ulric shouted back, they had been holed up in the hall fending off a seemingly endless horde of the enhanced undead for three minutes. finally they slew the last hollow,

"Excuse me, I'm going to say hello to that six-eyed bastard." Theo said angrily, they walked back into the chamber as the pyromancer hurled a glob of fire onto the channeler's robes, setting them on fire. the six eyed man panicked and fell of the ledge and died, exploding into souls.

"R.I.P asshole, midday-midday." Theo said calmly, they decided to look around before going to the roof, heading down a chamber they made quick work of a baldor knight standing in the hall. Wandering the hall they found a rotted door frame, curious Ulric kicked down the wood and found a staircase leading to an iron cage.

"Hello? is someone there?" A rolling voice called down, they rushed up the stairs and found a man in golden armor sitting casually inside the cell.

"Oh? still human, are you? Then I am in luck. Could you help me? As you can see I am stuck, without recourse." the gold knight said calmly.

"I don't know if I have the key." Ulric said, he tried the key they had found in the bar and the door swung open when he pulled.

"Thank you, I am Lautrec of Carim." his sly voice drawled, "I will get you a reward, later." without another word the knight sprinted down the stairway,

"umm, that can't have been a good idea." Theo said, they returned to the ladders leading to the roof and climbed up, Theo noticed a golden sign carved into the ground reading 'Solaire' he slapped it and in a flash bright as the sun Solaire rose from the mark.

Lester ran into the church making a sharp right, and pushed the ceremonial pedestal aside, not noticing the corpse atop it. He opened the revealed trapdoor and flipped it up hopping inside, Mariam followed behind but pocketed the fire keeper soul resting on the corpse before going. They reached a ladder and climbed up, Lester moved the stone slab and climbed up into the fireplace under the bell, he ran over to the next ladder and Mariam followed close behind.

"What was that?" Mariam said,

"Servant's entrance." He said, they reached the bell, it was intricate with many carving upon it's iron, but Lester's attention was to the battle. Solaire began hurling bolts at the first gargoyle as Ulric finished it off with an overhead strike, they turned their attention to the second one that was currently torching Theo,

"DO SOMETHING!" he was screaming, Lester chimed in and leapt from the balcony plummeting and driving the huge spear into the bare head of the gargoyle,

"Was that something?" Lester said as it too dissolved.

**oh, wow that was long. once again, thank you guys for staying with me and leaving reviews, I love the feedback and i'm always looking for ways to improve.**


	11. Teacher, what counts as a sin?

**Sorry that I haven't been able to get a chapter out, I was in a weeklong campout and before then it was a combination of laziness and occupation, but enough about me. Onward to the tale!**

"_Come on, it's entirely possible." Theo shouted at the group before him, "The odds are three to one, thirty of us and ten of them!"_

"_If you haven't noticed, we are unarmed." a weary voice called from the group, "Besides, they have swords and maces!" Theo was getting tired of this argument, he had a plan that no one would hear past, 'attacking the guards'_

"_Besides throwing our numbers at them, do you have an actual plan of action?" a reasonable voice called out?_

Planning, Theo's weakness. He had always been told that he was too brash and always ran into situations without thinking ahead. He hated it when people expected him to come up with a plan, and now Solaire and Ulric looked at him, expecting some plan of action.

"Rather grand to see you again Theo, who is your friend?" Solaire said in his Jovial voice, "And where might Lester be?"

"This is Ulric, a knight like you." Theo said simply, "And Lester is catching up after falling out a window."

"Spare me the details, do you know what we are up against?" Solaire said, not even waiting for an answer "Belfry gargoyles, animated by the gods magic, it won't be easy. Have a plan?" Theo thought this question through,

"I don't have a plan, I'll have to see it first." before he could achieve a response he pressed through the frigid wall of fog and onto the roof.

He made his way to the tower where he could see the great iron bell hanging. Once he was halfway there a fog shrouded the entrance and he heard his friends come in behind him. Suddenly a massive groaning sound was heard, followed by a few sickening cracks. Theo looked up to see that one of the more intricate of the four gargoyles had begun to twitch. Pieces of stone cracked as it removed itself from its perch and landed heavily onto the roof in front of Theo and let out a roar. Theo couldn't help but admire the intricacy of the creature, it's long yet thin axe and another axe grown of it's tail. Snapping out of it, Theo rolled out of the way as it's tail swung at him. It then deftly thrust downward at Theos prone back with its thin axe. But the axe was deflected as Ulric bashed his greatshield into the blade, this caused him to lose his balance and slid toward the edge of the roof. Solaire raised his unusual talisman generating a thick bolt of thunder, but he missed as the creature stirred its wings and jetted behind solaire. The bolt struck Theo, killing him instantly. Solaire dissipated along with Theo and Ulric gave up and dropped.

**Round two**

Theo ran directly to the gargoyle and deftly turned as it leapt skyward. he rolled between its legs as it landed and cut with full force at the tail, lopping it right off. as it was distracted Solaire took careful aim at the beast and flung his bolt of godly energy into the face of the beast. the creature staggered and let out a nerve-racking shriek, whether in pain or anger they did not know. Ulric turned to see that the second gargoyle had dislodged itself from its perch, Theo ran towards it and shouted to Ulric,

"I'll handle this, go help solaire!" He shouted. Ulric ran to confront the original and saw Solaire blast it with another bolt. Ulric raised his sword and slammed it down upon its helm, the creatures dissipated and its soul was absorbed by the new gargoyle.

"DO SOMETHING!" Theo shouted as it gushed flames onto him. suddenly Lester fell from the bells roost and impaled his spear straight through the bare skull of the creature,

"Is that something?" He said smugly.

Solaire handed each of them a golden coin with a sun emblazoned on it and vanished. without exchanging words they climbed the tower and with a bit of shock they saw Mariam standing there, Lester explained where he had been and what he had done. Theo, in a very poor imitation of Lesters voice said.

"Introductions later, we have a bell to ring." Theo the deftly pulled the bells Lever and a very beautiful resonating noise came from the bell and echoed across the great area. They all stood, Mesmerized by the sound. They climbed down the ladder and returned to the fireplace room, but there was someone new there.

" Greetings. I am Oswald of Carim, the pardoner. Thou art a friend. For thee, a warm welcome. Cometh thou to confess? Or to accuse? For indeed all sin is my domain." he said in a cold piercing voice.

"We have not sinned, but we will ask for advice." Theo said,

"Oh, I would not say that you are clean of sin, and yes I carry advice for each of you…. for a tribute." Oswald said cunningly,

"How much?" Theo sighed,

"The gargoyle's tail." He said simply, Ulric handed over the prize,

"Theo, though you might never know them, an heirloom may be a way to…. speak with them" Theo nervously rubbed his finger as he said this, "Marion, Revenge on many for what only one did could be considered….. wrong." He cackled a bit and moved on "Lester, a new choice of company may have a snake who might….. bite." He finally rested his gaze to Ulric, "You value comradery, but someone will soon… leave."

**WARNING: overtly large hint has been dropped brace for impact.**

**this story has nearly hit 1000 views, and that makes me jubilant. now if you could give me a review I would be happy for the feedback, thank you for your jolly cooperation and don't you dare go hollow.**


	12. Religous quest

**Ok, i'm going to use my library until I can get myself an operational computer/tablet to type these up on. I'm going to try to get a chapter out every two to four days. And onto the story!**

_Ricard, I remembered the name now. I had heard of Ricard in a song while I was traveling in Astora, he was a prince_ _who had been turned by the curse. But that tale was based sometime toward the beginning of the curses outbreak, hundreds of years ago... This made no sense though, what next? Will iron Tarkus just come and dance a jig in front of me?_

He understood now that time had been warped on that boat. He came to that conclusion after having Solaire and the soapstone signs explained to him.

"Ok, so thats covered." Ulric said, "Could you introduce us to your friend, Lester?"

"Fine, this is Mariam, I don't know much about her though." Lester said,

"Didn't your parents ever warn you about strangers?" Ulric said jokingly,

"She's no danger… to you!" Oswald called out.

"Shut up." Mariam said softly.

" Hey Oswald!" Theo shouted, "We were told to go to a hell-hole called Blighttown, any ideas on getting there?"

"You will have to go through the basement, kill a demon." Oswald took a breath, "and go through the Depths and kill a Remnant." he let the statement hang in the air as he chuckled a bit, "Key is at the church front."

They all climbed down the servant pass and came out in the main hall. Theo nabbed a squirming mass from the table as they passed. Lester ushered them into a compartment and then stomped on it's center causing the structure to hurtle down the shaft. It came to a stop in what everyone identified as firelink shrine. They heard some talking and went to investigate, they found that Petrus had three new friends with him. two of them, looking more warrior than priest stood talking as a white-garbed lady stood at the back.

"Nico, stop." the blond one said, "Hm? What have we here? You look awfully raggedy… Times are grim; the least you can do is look sharp. Don't you dare meet M'lady like that. You might scare her off for good!" He looked mainly toward Theo and his traditional attire. Seeing that Theo was going to attack the man for his undisguised contempt, Ulric stepped in and said,

"We need to rest, lets go to the fire." He said.

"Ahh, hello there… I have your reward. Please accept it. I am grateful to you for freeing me." the golden knight chuckled a bit as he handed Theo and Ulric more of those sun emblazoned badges, "… Not enough for you? Well, let's not be greedy, now… Tell you what, Ill leave a sign in the sewers if I find something... unpleasant" he the trotted off,

"Why, what a surprise. I didn't expect you to make it. … Oh, somebody rang the bell… Wait. Was it you? You never give up, do you? I don't know how you do it. Well, don't stop now. Only one more, but it's going to be suicide." he started laughing with a note of madness. Now uncomfortable they all decided to rest each rested dreamlessly except Theo.

"_Mother this is madness!" a angry voice shouted, _

"_Do not question me daughter, this must be done." a stronger voice said distantly, "It burns low so a new one must be made!" Theo could see nothing, the room was pitch black, but he heard someone begin to run as the angry voice said,_

"_Come sister, we must live." two pairs of feet now ran away from the voice,_

"_Cowards!" The strong voice screamed, three voices now joined in singing a ebbing song as a bright light was produced. Theo briefly saw three black robed people before a great blast of purple fire permeated his vision._

"Hope you weren't attached to that priest!" a voice called, awakening Theo and the others. "He's gone off and skipped mindlessly into those catacombs!"

**Dammit Lester,** **well he's up and left. wonder if they will go after him or continue their quest? once again, thank you for the continued support on this story. Sorry for how short this was, I hit a writer's block at the end there.**


	13. lost or looked for

**Ok, the catacombs. Worst. Place. Ever. That is literally all I have to say. Onto the tale!**

"_Excuse me." I said to the Astoran guard, "I was upon a different ship, where am I now?" _

"_You were caught by the time fluxithingy, the sorcerer explains it better." The guard said in a annoyed tone, "Different time or not, you can't be here." The guard pushed me down the stairs and into the brig._

Lester was beginning to hate these memory flashes, this one caught him as he faced a scimitar wielding skeleton. Vince crushed it before it could strike Lester,

"Be more careful friend, these things don't slow down for you." Vince said. Lester whipped out his talisman and blasted the nearest skeleton with thunder, sending it's bones spilling off the cliffs. They charged deeper into the graveyard wiping out the magical bones as they went. "I have never seen a miracle such as that." Rhea said as she caught up to them, "Where could you have learned to conjure thunder?"

Lester wondered whether to tell them that he had gained this power by kneeling before a random defaced statue.

"I found a scroll in some ruins, it contained the rite to cast this." He said quickly. No one asked any further since the goal was far more important. as they walked deeper into the tunnel they came to a large entrance with some unusual architecture.

"Well this certainly looks happy, I love what they've done with the place." Vince said uncomfortably, "it looks as it is advertised, like a tomb." Nico gave a grunt that Lester took as a laugh…. maybe.

Lester went ahead before the others, multiple flashes of purple light shone from the entrance shortly. Followed by heavy footsteps as Lester rolled out of the dark followed by two skeletons. He swung his Partizan as he got to his his feet knocking the nearest skeletons hip bone into the wall. Nico crushed the skull with his boot as the next one lunged at Rhea. She sidestepped as it was crushed by Vince's mace, the first reformed unusually and returned to the fight. It's impossible resurrection was cut short by Nico's axe splitting its skull in two.

"There must be something resurrecting these things nearby, Lets go." Petrus said.

_Theo, Mariam, Ulric_

"If he hollows down there it's his own fault!" Theo said angrily at Mariam and Ulric,

"When did you become a downer?" Ulric snapped, "You should find a rock to sit on so you can be just like him!" He said gesturing at the chain-mail wearing warrior.

"This is called realism!" Theo growled, "He decided to go seek this suicide quest for religion!"

"And this bell business is completely rational?" Mariam said slowly.

Theo threw his hands in the air and walked off.

"Where are you going?" Ulric said in a calmer tone.

"To the church" Theo said.

_Theo_

A blast of force shot from the drake tail, blasting aside the last of the Baldor Knights. Theo stepped outside, ignoring the scenery around him. He cleaved right through the hollow on the stairway and collected a small key from a corpse behind it. Theo was confused as to where he must go, he concluded that the old church might hold answers for him. He walked down the stairway until he came to the smith,

"Do you have any keys? Or something I could use as a quick way through the land through there." Theo said bluntly, pointing at the stairway across from the smith.

"Well, hello to you. I do have this." Andre set down a heavy iron emblem, "This unlocks the way to a great treasure i'm told." Without exchanging any more words Theo grabbed the emblem and released a great many of his accumulated souls and walked away.

**In the name of Patches, please forgive me! I don't have any twin humanities though. I'm very, very sorry. I had to go to a two week-long camp (with rules against electronics!). Theo is scaring me right now, I honestly don't know what's happening. Also FidgetyTwitch's character may or may not get involved next chapter **


	14. Separation

**Ok, chapters will be coming out more frequently now that I have a functional home computer to operate. Enough about that, to the tale!**

_After escaping the fake chest they ran down a scenic overview and rested at the end. the platform suddenly descended, plummeting down to a calm stop. Me and my sister walked out of the chamber we were in, to come face to face with a large gargoyle. The beast was strong but I was stronger yet, we cut the beast down with ease._

_Mariam, Ulric_

"What are you going to do?" The crestfallen man said, "Like it matters, we will all be hollow soon."

"Lester has friends with him, Theo doesn't." Ulric said, "I have to go after Theo." Mariam walked away without exchanging any words with Ulric. She trotted into the graveyard, only thinking of Oswalds advice to Lester 'Lester, a new choice of company may have a snake who might…. Bite' she walked by a collection of shattered bones on the ground. She knew that one of the people in Lester's quest was a traitor. Suddenly a swirl of white colors blurred around her as they cleared she saw that the skeletons around her had all rose. She chose not to fight them and she fled into a cave she saw. She wandered into the chamber before, and was swiftly confronted by a levitating withered skull. she rolled away as it screeched and exploded, as she rose she swung out with her blade sending the skeleton before her hurtling down the eternal dark over the cliff. She then (quite literally) kicked the legs out from under the next one and hurled it's remainder off the cliff as well.

_Theo_

As he wandered the dark gloomy forest, Theo began to calm down and think. He assumed that there must be a door somewhere in this forest that this key or this emblem would go to. He cut down two more of the strange plant-like creatures he had seen. walking forward he saw a large stone door with a round glowing indention. Making the connection instantly, he set the strange emblem into the indention and the doors swung open. He walked out into a vast open area of the forest. Knowing better than to assume safety Theo searched the area and saw a sorcerer standing idly. Theo readied his sword and got ready to unleash it's blast before he saw that it was not hollow.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Theo called, the man turned and shouted

"Intruder!" the man raised his curled staff and began to coalesce souls before him. Theo dived under the bolt of energy and pulled his palm to his lips.

"You want to see real magic?" Theo said. He released a burst of fire from his hand and the ran him through with his sword. He was then kicked aside by a nearly invisible man hooded man,

"What the.." The man leaped at Theo but Theo rolled out of the way as the man's daggers sank into the dirt. Theo saw that a robed man and two Knights were now rushing him. Quickly deciding that it would be unwise to fight, He ran until he got to a odd structure. A man blocked the doorway,

"Back off, this ones my kill." The man said in a menacing low voice. The man walked up to Theo, and twirled his blade. The sword was long and fine, the hilt made of simple wood with a red band and the blade was thin and blood-stained and had some runes he thought seemed familiar.

_Lester_

wound-ridden and in pain The group walked up the hill Lester read the orange glow of the runes before him. "Illusory wall ahead." he jabbed the wall before him with his partizan and it faded away revealing a bonfire.

"Everyone in." Lester said calmly. They all crammed into the small space and sat at the fire. The warmth burnt the fatigue away bringing new vitality to the weary group.

"These bones are dreadful." Rhea said.

" There's no need to be afraid, we will have your back, m'lady." Petrus said calmly. Lester began working out the kinks in his armor with a repair box he had bought. After a long period of rest they began to hear loud noises from the entrance and went to investigate. Nico quickly scaled a ladder that was cut into the cliff to the left of the cave. They all followed suit and came to find Nico holding his axe to the throat of a innocent-looking bald man.

"I wasn't doing anything I swear!" The man cried, "Help me!" He shouted to them as he saw them group at the ladder.

_Ulric_

Ulric rushed through the church, not even stopping for the hollows at the Side door. He stopped at the old church's bonfire and went to Andre,

"Have you seen Theo?" Ulric said hurriedly.

"Yes, he just ran through, He was in quite a hurry." Andre said.

"Where did he go?" Ulric nearly shouted, Andre was taken aback and simply pointed to the staircase. Ulric rushed down the stairs and made a dash to find his friend.

_Theo_

"My business here isn't to fight you all, I just want to pass through." Theo announced.

"I disagree, you've trespassed on this field and I can't simply pass up your humanity as a price now can I?" The man looked up at Theo, a hungry gleam of madness in his eyes. Without warning the man lunged out with the thin sword, Theo barely managed to dodge out of the way.

"Oh, so we play this way then?" Theo said, he took his blade in two hands and cleaved downward narrowly missing the man.

**I'm so sorry I haven't been able to release many chapters recently, I have been caught up in doing so many other things that I just haven't been able to do this as much.**


	15. Edge of madness

**Hello again everyone, I am so happy to be posting again. I apologize for my absence, onto the tale!**

_ I looked at the black sliver in my hand and back at the rogue cleric. _

_"This will make me human again?" I said. _

_"It will make it easy to blend in." The man said, "Burn it on a flame and you will revert." I stared into the twisting little void,_

_"I hope this works." I said_

_?, Theo_

Yes, he could practically smell the humanity the man before him held. He swung down hard at the man and hit his side. He winced as he felt his sword whittle away at him as well. Theo saw this as an opportunity and hurled a fireball into the man's side adding to the pain. Going into a flurry of blows at the robed man, mad hunger driving his every blow, he drove _theo_ to the edge of death. But he too was close to death as well. He jumped back and pulled one of many humanities from his satchel and consumed it, restoring his strength. Theo drained half of his flask to recover and took the drakes tail in two hands and released a blast of force that knocked the man into the wall.

_Ulric_

Tracking Theo was not difficult, the corpses of many strange creatures littered the path. He came upon a massive open door, and rushed in without question. Ulric searched quickly and found a crowd gathered around a strange building, sounds of battle coming from within. Crouching slightly, Ulric slipped behind a knight and ran him through with his greatsword. He swiftly removed the head of a nearby cleric in a swift chop, he caught the talisman as it fell and crossed his arms,

"With grace may my enemies be blasted away." He chuckled as he uncrossed his arms releasing a blast of force that knocked the rest out of the way. Before him he saw Theo clutching his sword and a strikingly familiar man on the ground before him.

_?, Theo, Ulric_

Truly enraged now he got up, his gaze now met not one but two intruders. As he saw the second intruder, he felt something click in his mind. A memory,

_ "So when we signed up for this, you didn't bother to ask what we were clearing from the town?" I asked Ulric,_

_"How was I supposed to guess that Catarina's countryside was being plagued by a pseudodragon?" Ulric replied heartily. He turned to the three archers of the group, I hadn't quite learned their names yet._

_"Just as as a reminder, don't shoot the eyes. Worse than a dragon is one that will crash into shit." He then turned to me and said, "So Edge, you have anything to add?"_

This memory flashed through Edges mind, he remembered Ulric. He had joined Ulric and his roving mercenary/vigilante/monster hunter, whatever they were, it didn't matter. The group held elements that he had thought he would never need or want, companions. He had come to be a very loner and antisocial ever since he became an undercover undead. Ulric had saved him from a situation where his solo style cost him dearly, he joined the group and Ulric became a close friend. But as he remembered this his ravenous hunger returned, but now it felt repulsive... But necessary. Edge consumed another sprite and swung out again, his blade keener now because of the humanity. Prepared this time Theo caught the blade on the jagged edge of his sword and tugged down, disarming him. Theo grabbed the sword and swung at Edge, he struck true, piercing the man's chest. But Theo doubled over as he felt the sword leech at his vitality as well. Edge comes up and prepares to take his sword back, but looking down a numb feeling spreads across his body as he feels the blade of the greatsword protruding from his chest. He felt the repulsive hunger leave him as his body dissipated.

**This was a shorter more action packed chapter don't you think? I hope you guys liked it, be sure to leave a review to tell me what I'm doing right or wrong. And thank you FidgetyTwitch for suggesting Edge, I hope you like my portrayal of him.**


	16. Families rage

**Hello again, sorry for the sidetrack. I swear they will get to the Capra demon or pinwheel by the end of this chapter.**

_ I woke to the sounds of battle, I pulled myself up and looked around. The darkness told me that it was still night, I willed flames to curl around my fist and made my way to the stairs. Creeping up, the sounds grew louder as a body fell in front of me. It was a guard, grabbing the sword from the body I knew exactly what was happening, A Riot._

_Ulric, Theo, Edge_

Theo and Ulric waited around the bonfire for what seemed like hours until finally Edge, as Ulric had referred to him as, formed at it. Theo swiftly kicked him on his side and put his sword to the man's neck.

"No! No please!" Edge screamed, "I don't want to hollow!" Ulric pulled Theo's sword back,

"Is this your concept of talking?" He said.

"Well if you haven't noticed, he just tried to kill both of us." Theo said impatiently,

"Please, I didn't mean to!" Edge cried, "I just need to be human."

"Edge, just calm down." Ulric said, "You're human now aren't you?" Edge slipped of his gauntlet to display the taut dry flesh and skin.

"Do you call this human!?" He said in disbelief.

"Your mind is what matters, not your appearance." Ulric said peacefully.

_Mariam, Lester_

Kicking another Skelton off the edge, Mariam looked around in hope of spotting the group. She heard a grinding noise as one of the bridges began to overturn with Lester and the others upon it. Lester and Nico caught onto a ledge, and Rhea and Vince landed safely on the edge and Petrus grabbed Lesters leg. With little complications, Nico, Lester and Petrus got up and moved into the tunnel ahead. Mariam overlooked the party and dismissed it as a trap, and she moved onward herself. After scavenging around for some time, Mariam found a strangely shaped lantern hung from hair, not stopping to question it she dashed forward.

"Ok, I think this way seems promising." Vince said hopefully, pointing to a stairway he found. "Woah!" One of the stones behind him loosened and he fell off.

"Vince!" Rhea cried.

"I'm am still alive m'lady, albeit barely." Vince's voice echoed up from the pit. "There is actually a path here, jump and I'll catch you!"

_Edge, Ulric, Theo_

"I still can't believe you searched the forest for what was described as a basement." Edge said bluntly, they had been traveling for a short while and stood at the end of 'hell kite bridge' as Edge had called it. "We are quite lucky, there is usually a hell kite drake overseeing this place."

"Actually we killed it, this is it's tail." Theo said.

"Only two of you?" Edge said,

"Well, we had a cleric and a phantom with us." Ulric said,

"Where is he now?" Edge asked,

"He left us for a religious quest, the bastard." Theo said lividly.

"Religion is the traitor itself, it's followers just cut the throats." Edge said angrily.

Theo unlocked the door and they went through, sliding down the ladder ahead.

They walked quietly down a stairwell until with a horrifying snarl a taught-skinned eyeless dog slammed into Ulrics readied great shield. Edge drove his sword straight through its skull, and it fell limp. They had no respite as another dog tackled Edge to the ground, beginning to tear into his open neck. Theo kicked it off and prepared to lop off its head, but yet another hound slammed into Theo's side.

"Ulric, Do something!" Theo shouted, Ulric deftly knocked Theo's hound onto one of the burning piles below with his shield. Edge managed to get to his feet, as did the dog, he skewered the dog on the end of the sword and the area went quiet again. The group now examined the landscape, burn piles and scattered doorways dotted the area.

"Something seems off." Edge said, he pointed to a wagon in the street. "Why is that untouched while all else burns?" Weapons drawn, they approached the abandoned wagon, suddenly with three echoing thuds the doors opened. Three cloaked, dagger-wielding hollows burst from the building and rushed them.

_Lester_

Rolling as he landed, Lester stood before the rest of the group at the caves bottom. A broken patch of bricks was between them, the heard rhythmic clashes of metal on metal rising up from it.

"A smithy?" Vince asked no one in particular. "In this dreadful place?" Nico grunted out a few unintelligible words and began searching his pack.

"What's he even saying?" Lester asked.

"He doesn't speak much common, and even then the accent is thick." Vince responded.

Nico triumphantly pulled a large amount of rope from his pouch and tossed one end down the hole. He gestured to it and tightened his grip on the rope, Petrus went down first and the rest followed. Lightly dropping from the rope, Lester turned to his quiet group to see the reason for the silence. A huge skeleton with bones dangling from its mouth surveyed the group suspiciously and raised it's massive pick and smashed open the wall beside it.

"Be gone with you." It said in a rough tone. "You'll spoil my focus." The behemoth returned to its place and began forging again. The group uncomfortably moved through the crack and went ahead.

_Theo, Edge, Ulric_

"Godammit!" Edge shouted as yet another dog crashed into him, Theo deftly kicked the dog off of Edge and released a torrent of flame from his palm. The dog howled once before it died, another one slammed into Ulric's shield and edge quickly removed the undead dogs head. Theo counted to five and decided that no more dogs were coming.

"How many dogs do these hollows have?" Theo said in frustration,

"They don't seem to end, do they." Ulric said, he pointed ahead toward a thick white fog ahead of them. "I feel we are near the end of this alley." They proceeded forward carefully and, as they had guessed, the doors burst open as hollows flooded into the area and struck out. But with a well timed sweep with Ulrics blade they all fell, they all approached the fog and pulled through. Before them stood, well more like sprinted, a massive humanoid body with a dragon-like tail and a Rams skull for a head.

"Capra demon!" Ulric shouted, he just managed to pull up his shield to block the massive machete. Theo ran out under the aftermath, only to be greeted by two hounds, without time to conjure fire, Theo ran for the stairway he saw. Ulric got a slice in at the Demon, but had to retreat behind his shield once more for protection.

"They are to dam fast!" Edge shouted as he tried to fend against the dogs, Theo took care of one of the hound with a fireball from above. Edge quickly dispatched the second dog in a flurry of strikes, the battle was going well. But Ulric couldn't keep his shield up forever, he lost his grip on it and felt the massive weight of the machete slam into him over and over again, losing his grasp on life Ulric felt himself slipped into limbo.

"Ulric!" Theo shouted as he felt rage flood into his veins, his right hand burst into intense blood-red Fire, more controlled than the torrent at the asylum.

Without thinking twice, Theo took a leaf out of Ulrics book and leapt off the stairway. He landed on the Ram skull and began smashing his fist into it over and over again, seemingly sticky globs of Crimson fire spread from wherever he struck. The demon began releasing an unearthly screech as pieces of its flesh and skin began burning off. The machetes clattered to the ground as it grew to busy trying to save itself from the horrible flames, both of Theo's fists were now ignited. Theo grabbed both horns and began pulling all of his weight back, and with a sickening sound the head came with him. After what seemed like 20 minutes, no flesh remained and clean white bones alongside a Rams skull and two machetes remained.

"If I had known pyromancy could let me do something like that, I would have trained more in it." Edge said nervously.

"It's not skill..." Theo said, he stared at his hands. "I'm not sure what it is though."

Theo went to the sides to examine himself, the robes around his arms were burnt and singed, but his hands were fine. There was no sign of the unnatural undulating, before he put his hands down he noticed something. The only in undamaged article near his hands was his ring, he had only recently begun wearing it again, after what Oswald had said to him. He rubbed the ring, his only heirloom to family, his gift of the day he was told he was an orphan, his mothers ring.

**I'm am sorry for the massive delay, it was not intentional. I had a lot of meet ups with family and school has been shoving a lot onto my plate. I hope you guys like this chapter. I hated the dogs, they were awful if you had a weapon that wasn't fast.**


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